Using a Least-Privileged User Account

Using a Least-Privileged User Account:

“Anyone who has been a victim of viruses, worms, and other malicious software (malware) will appreciate the security principle of “least privilege.” If all processes ran with the smallest set of privileges needed to perform the user's tasks, it would be more difficult for malicious and annoying software to infect a machine and propagate to other machines. Today, due to awkward complications that arise when it is employed, least privilege is not in active use on most Microsoft Windows–based systems. However, with the release of the next Windows operating system, codenamed “Longhorn,” almost every user will be able to make regular, daily use of this important security principle.

The Security Principle of Least Privilege

If low-privileged processes are compromised, they will do a lot less damage to a system than high-privileged processes are capable of doing. Consequently, using a non-administrator account instead of an administrator account while completing daily tasks offers the user added protection against infection from a host of malware, external or internal security attacks, accidental or intentional modifications to system setup and configurations, and accidental or intentional access to confidential programs or documents.

Given the obvious security benefits, there is a huge desire, both in home and corporate environments, to run Windows using non-administrator accounts. Unfortunately, almost all Windows users today continue to use an administrator account for their daily tasks. A host of nefarious users and applications rely on being able to use the victim's administrator privileges for such dirty work as destroying or stealing data, reconfiguring another application, or installing a key logger that sends each of the unsuspecting user's keystrokes off to some unknown location on the other side of the Internet.…”

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/secnews/articles/lpuseacc.mspx